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Brayden Coombs

Assistant Special Teams

Biography

Brayden Coombs in 2018 is in his seventh season in a full staff position with the Bengals. For the sixth straight season, he will work with coordinator Darrin Simmons on special teams.

Brayden Coombs in 2018 is in his seventh season in a full staff position with the Bengals. For the sixth straight season, he will work with coordinator Darrin Simmons on special teams. Coombs assists with weekly game planning and preparation, and he has full charge of selected special teams meetings and practice periods.

In addition to his role with the Bengals’ special teams units, Coombs also will work as an assistant coach on offense, helping to implement coordinator Bill Lazor’s new system.

Coombs’ move to the the offensive side of the ball this year comes after two seasons (2016-17) as defensive quality control coach, where he assisted the cornerbacks. There, he aided a defensive unit that in 2017 ranked eighth in the NFL against the pass (211.2 yards per game) and sixth in fewest yards per play (5.0). In ’16, Coombs helped the defense rank eighth in fewest points allowed (19.7).

On special teams, Coombs’ work in 2017 produced a unit that aided P Kevin Huber’s 40.8 net punting average, the third-best single-season mark in team history. In 2016, Coombs helped develop special teams standout Alex Erickson, a college free agent, who led the AFC in kickoff return average (27.9). Erickson was second in the NFL, behind only Minnesota veteran Cordarrelle Patterson.

Erickson’s standout season in 2016 means that Coombs has had a role in the top two kickoff return seasons in Bengals history. In 2014, CB Adam Jones produced the Bengals’ first-ever NFL kickoff return title, with a Bengals-record 31.3 average. Erickson’s 27.9 from 2017 ranks second.

In 2014, when Adam Jones won the NFL kickoff return title, he also finished second in the league in punt returns (12.1). Jones just missed becoming the first NFL player in 22 years to lead the league in both categories, and he claimed the kick return spot on the Associated Press All-Pro team.

The Bengals have had three Pro Bowl special teamers during Coombs’ period of work with the units. The first was P Kevin Huber in the 2014 season, when he posted franchise records for gross (46.8) and net (42.1) average. In 2015, HB Cedric Peerman earned a berth after his 17 tackles tied for the team’s highest total since 2008. And in 2017, veteran LS Clark Harris earned his first Pro Bowl nod.

Under Coombs’ direction, the Bengals’ coverage units on special teams have seen consistent production. In 2015, the Bengals ranked seventh in the NFL in punt coverage (6.3 yards per return). The 2014 team finished with top 10 NFL rankings in gross punting average (third at 46.8), kickoff return average (fourth at 27.6), net punting average (fifth at 42.1), punt return average (seventh at 11.0) and punt coverage (10th at 7.5).

In the long-established special teams rankings done annually by the Dallas Morning News, incorporating 22 categories of special teams play, the Bengals have had two top 10 finishes in Coombs’ five seasons as a special teams assistant. Cincinnati placed sixth in 2014 and eighth in ’15.

Coombs first joined the Bengals in December of 2009 as a coaching intern, and he was elevated to coaching assistant for the ’10 and ’11 seasons, working primarily with the defensive staff, focusing on the defensive backs and assisting with video breakdown and game-plan construction. In 2012, Combs signed on as an assistant coach as an offensive assistant, where he focused on the wide receivers through ’15. He added assistant special teams coach to his responsibilities in 2013, and moved from assisting the coaching of receivers to assisting the coaching of cornerbacks in ’16.

Coombs played collegiately at Miami University (Ohio) from 2005-09, where he lettered four times. He spent two seasons as a DB, and then was switched to WR for his final three years. He set a school record for receptions in a game (14) in his final appearance as a senior, against Buffalo.

Coombs is a Cincinnati native and a graduate of Colerain High School. He earned a degree in business from Miami. He and his wife, Alexia, have a daughter, Harper. His father, Kerry, is the secondary coach for the Tennessee Titans.